Where's daddy?
by Dae the Shadow
Summary: Another story about young Elladan and Elrohir and their adventures. Would Mirkwood live after their visit?


**Summery:** Another story about young Elladan and Elrohir and their adventures. Would Mirkwood live after their visit?

**Disclaimer****: **I would never even dream of possessing them… I'm just thankful that they were created.

**NOTE**: This is a translation from a story I wrote in Russian. I hope I got it right. I can post the original one two, but I don't think that there would be many people who would read it.

**Where's daddy?**

People are always loosing one thing or another. Some loose tracks of their favorite shoes, some – of the quill or a bottle of ink, but little Elladan and Elrohir had topped them all. They had lost their father. The two of them searched everywhere: under the bed, in the wardrobe, barely being able to open the heavy wooden doors, behind the table… They had even peeked out into the corridor through the keyhole, but their father was nowhere to be seen. It wouldn't be that much of a problem if he got lost at home, where they knew every corner, but no, lord Elrond disappeared in the completely unknown to them palace. So what were they supposed to do now?

It had all begun some weeks ago back home, when the twins' parents had a rather spectacular quarrel. They were not arguing often, but when they did, everyone around them tried hard to find some reliable hidden places, even stern uncle Erestor and brave uncle Glorfindel. That time was no different and the twins trembled visibly, holding each other firmly as they witnessed the scandal from under the solid oak table. They didn't stay because they were all that bold or curious. No, not this time, at least. They just weren't fast enough to escape.

The twins could not possibly understand all those words their respective parents told each other, but the cause for the argument was plane enough even for them. Apparently, father was going to visit formidable mighty king Thranduil in his realm (the one behind the gray mountains, inhabited by angry bloodthirsty goblins, and dark forest, swarming with giant spiders that are the size of uncle Glorfindel's horse, and it was one of the biggest horses in Imladris). Their mother had clearly been already planning her visit to Lothlorien, to see her own parents and to attend to her friend's wedding ceremony. Both Elrond and Celebrian were not planning on taking their children with them: the first one because the road was quite dangerous and the second – because she would not be able to spend much time with them and she thought it irresponsible and foully to let others care about your children even if those others are reliable responsible elves. To let the twins stay home, however, would mean to intrust them into either lord Glorfindel (but mother was rather unpleased by his authobiographic stories instead of night tales) or lord Erestor (but this time it was father, who told that even he sometimes experiences an urge to run away from his slightly tedious councilor, not to mention a pair of energetic madcaps).

So, the situation seemed to be deadlock, but since father didn't like or was able to argue with his wife for long, and the trip to Mirkwood could not be postponed, the twins got a great chance to take a look at the infamous grey mountains and the black forest. And the great neighboring king too, who was used to scare them into obedience before mother allowed uncle Glorfindel to tell them stories about the balrog. But off course those boring grown-ups didn't let them see the goblins or the spiders, not even the smallest ones. And even the supposedly scary king Thranduil didn't look all that menacing at all (although he did frown a bit when they called him 'uncle').

The palace met the two brothers with lots of new and potentially interesting things and places, but they got no chance to satisfy their research enthusiasm. Gloomy very serious looking warriors stood on guard all over the palace and every single grown-up elf the twins met was instantly offering his/her help to guide the duo back to their father and, taking them by hands, walked the two children to lord Elrond's quarters. Desperately bored, the twins were praying to the Valar for any kind of adventure, however small it might be. And the Great Ones had finally heard them.

Their father disappeared last evening. He read the twins a story about "the seven noldo bogatyrs", extinguished the candles and they've seen him no more. All the two brothers found in the morning were the thick book on top of the empty chair and their father's slipper. The left one.

- Ai, - said Elrohir, picking the slipper carefully. His mighty childish imagination showed him truly awful pictures of what had happened. – Perhaps he was eaten by a monster?

- No! – Elladan shook his head, his voice trembling a bit though. – It would have eaten us as well. The monsters like to eat small elflings, especially the naughty ones. And our father is a grown-up. And an obedient one.

- But where is he then?

- I don't know…

Tears glistered in the twins' eyes as they looked confused at each other. Sniffing in unison, they looked around them. There weren't too many places for a grown-up elf to hide. Not that their father would hide from them in the first place, off course. After all, it was him, who told them that it was bad to scary your family and friends, not to mention to throw your things around.

- We should search for him, - Elladan said firmly, wiping the tears away with the help of his night shirt's sleeve. Giving it a second thought he wiped his brother's as well. – Maybe he's asleep in his bed?

Elrohir cheered up a bit, peeking into the next room along his brother. For some reason he had never let go of his father's slipper, gripping it even tighter. The room was empty. But the bedcovers were ruined and lying on the floor was their father's bathrobe. The one he was wearing right before disappearance.

The twins froze, looking in horror at another part of their father's wardrobe.

- Someone stole our father, right? – Elrohir asked, sniffing again.

- Looks like it, - replied Elladan, more than a bit uncertain. But then, remembering about the legendary bogatyrs, frowned sternly and said: - We must find him and save him!

- But the monster… - Elrohir looked at his brother with horror and awe.

- And the father?

- But how do we find him? – instantly agreed Elrohir. After all, if the monster didn't eat them in the first place, it should be liking grown up elves more. Which they were not. What an unusual monster…

- We'll track him. Like the brave Huan the Dog, - Elladan decided eagerly.

The twins looked around themselves, but saw no traces of the tracks. Their brilliant career of brave detectives threatened to end even before it started, jeopardizing their self-appointed rescue mission.

- The window is closed, - stated Elladan, showing the peaks of observation.

- So, the monster dragged him out through the door, - his brother continued.

- There are two doors here. To our bedroom and into the living room.

- We've already searched our room.

- So, it got to be in the living room!

Satisfied and more than a bit proud with their deductions (what a great word they've learned from uncle Erestor!), the two brothers hurried into the living room. The great excitement started to replace their fear. There it was! The great adventure they were waiting for so long!

New traces of the terrible abduction awaited the duo in the next room. The brothers found a turned over chair and their father's second slipper. Elladan picked it up carefully, cradling the footgear to his chest. For a second it looked as if the panic would win over his mind, but then he turned to his brother, frowning resolutely.

- Come, let's go.

Elrohir was scared, but their father's life depended on them. Only… How would they find him in this enormous unfamiliar place where every single elf was dragging them back into the room? And when they don't know who had abducted their father and why. And this unknown someone must be very strong to make the mighty lord Elrond scatter his clothing all over the quarters!

- First, we must open the door, - Elladan jammed the slipper under his armpit and stepped toward the door.

To the twins' great astonishment, the door appeared to be unlocked. Peering out the two made sure that the long, seemingly endless corridor was empty. Taking a deep breath the brothers slipped out of the room.

- What's next? – Elrohir asked in a hashed whisper, holding the slipper with both hands like one would hold a sword.

- Do you remember the tale about 'The Invincible Beren and the mazes of Morgoth'? to find a way in the maze we must always keep to one side. We will go to the right.

- Oh! – was all that Elrohir could tell. He could hardly argue with his brother's logic. – But we must make sure no one sees us.

- Yes, we'll try to. Come!

And so they went, armed with an unshakable determination and their father's slippers. They walked through endless corridors, hiding from all the elves encountered and trying hard to spot those tracks and evidences which brave Huan the Dog had always used in the stories, read by the twins' father.

- We will never find him thus! – sniffed Elrohir. – The palace is too big!

Elladan had no choice but to agree with that. Whether king Thranduil's home was bigger than the mazes of Morgoth, or whether the two of them were smaller than Beren…

- Huan the Dog was searching the tracks by smell, - the older twin said reluctantly. – We can try that too.

Should someone decide to take a look into the corridor in the next few minutes, he or she would probably question his/her sanity. The picture was more than a bit extraordinary: two identical elflings, clothed in the long nightshirts, were crawling all over the floor and sniffing it diligently.

It took about five minutes for the twins to decide that the methods, used by the brave Huan the Dog were not of much help to them. It seemed to be harder than they thought to sniff out their father's trace. And from the smell of the stew that had been spilled over by someone not too long ago, the two detectives felt awaking hunger. Sitting right onto the stone floor, the brothers embraced each other and their father's slippers sadly, and tried hard to think under the accompaniment of the dull rumbling of their empty stomachs.

- The brave Huan was a dog, right? – Elrohir voiced out the trail of his thoughts. – And we are elves. I think that only animals can find the tracks by smell. We can't.

- We should find an animal then! – exclaimed Elladan, jumping to his feet. Then he got the hump. – But where?

It would not be a problem should they be home. One would only need to walk outside and find plenty animals to catch. Unless he wanted to harm them, off course. But here was another case. The two would not be able to even walk outside.

The brothers once again hang their heads. What a stupid day it was? They just couldn't do anything right! Dad was gone, they knew not how or where to look for him, and there even weren't any animals nearby.

Suddenly, swiftly approaching steps and voices could be heard from a neighboring corridor.

"…in the dungeons, off course!" – came a piece of phrase.

The second voice was much softer and the twins could not distinguish the words.

"With help like that? Off course!" – the first voice exclaimed.

"Who?" – came the second voice finally.

"Lord Elrond!"

The twins froze in place, listening hard. But the two had already moved out of their hearing range, continuing their chat.

- They put our father in the dungeons? – Elladan asked in horror, summoning all the information and coming to an unexpected conclusion.

- But why? – Elrohir was horrified to. – The dungeons are for criminals and bandits and our father is good!

- We must free him!

- But how would we get to the dungeons? – Elrohir looked around. He wouldn't even find a way to their room from here.

- It should be under the palace. Like in a cave deep down, - his brother said authoritatively.

- But they would be guarded…

- We must! – stated Elladan in a voice that tolerated no argument, cutting the air with a slipper, and dragged his brother down the corridor to find the dungeons deep under the palace.

Straying through the maze of corridors for awhile longer, the two stopped for a small rest, hiding themselves behind the big pot that contained a large plant.

- I still can't understand why they would put our father into the dungeon, - Elrohir said, nipping the side of his parent's slipper.

- I don't know, - sighed Elladan and then jerking his head up with a sudden idea. – Uncle Thranduil must know: he is the king here, after all.

- Are you saying that HE had put father there? – this thought made Elrohir shiver from sudden unpleasant fear.

- We must find out.

- Ai, we must, but how?

Just as the twins got deep in thought, trying to figure out what to do next, judging by their voices the same two guards they'd heard before, passed by their hidden place. The door right net to the pot opened and the two embraced elflings heard the king's voice.

"Report".

"The criminal is in dungeons, your majesty".

"Was the poison determined?"

"It's the Royal Spider, sire".

"Lord Elrond?"

"We wait for results".

"Report as soon as the spider is found".

"Yes, sire".

The two hoards walked out and the twins exchanged horrified looks. They couldn't understand all that was said, but what they did made them panic. They wanted to feed their father to a giant spider – a royal pet that run away.

- Come! – Elladan said, looking rather fearsome, and stood up, dragging not to willing brother alone.

The king looked over the pile of documents that occupied the majority of his table and raised an eyebrow in surprise, eying the two intruders that looked both scared and determined. Disheveled, barefooted, clad in soiled and crumpled nightshirts and with big slippers at the ready in their hands.

- Where is our father? – chorused the twins, thrusting the slippers in the king's direction.

- Why did you take him?

- Why did you put him into dungeons?

- Why do you want to feed him to a spider?

With each phrase the tears in the brother's eyes were getting closer to spilling out, but they didn't look ready to give up.

Thranduil looked at the formidable figures of the twins that threatened him with what looked like their father's slippers, knot knowing whether he should laugh or cry. Where from those two got such ideas? Suppressing a laugh, he put his hands up slightly, trying to look impressed by the threat.

- Fine. I will take you.

- Into the dungeons? – asked Elladan, frowning in a special Erestorish way.

- To your father, - replied Thranduil. – Alright?

- Alright, - chorused the twins, moving to let the king pass. They were very pleased with themselves.

The king walked down the corridor, chocking with barely suppressed laughter and feeling the intense stair of two pairs of eyes and the threat of the two slippers. Who knew that with the arrival of lord Elrond and his sons the life here would become so… unboring. The elves they met along the way were stopping in surprised, but, silenced by their liege's sign were letting them pass without any comments, following the trio with amused glances.

It was a long walk and at the end of it Thranduil was able to hear the loud puffing from behind and the suspicion in the two gazes that were drilling a hole in the king's back intensified.

- We are almost there, - he decided to comment, but the twins didn't reply, continuing to walk silently behind their hostage.

ХХХ

Elrond rubbed his eyes wearily. Did he fall asleep? He was supposed to just take a minute or two to rest…

The night was all but easy for the lord of Imladris. The twins had just fallen asleep, snuffling peacefully, when a soft knocking was heard and the nervous warrior said that his presence was needed in the healing wing. A member of one of the patrol groups was bitten by the spider, but they did not know what species it belonged to. And here, in Mirkwood, almost every kind of them was poisonous in one way or another.

Knowing that in situations like this the time was at the highest value, Elrond quickly changed his clothing, not caring where the old ones drop, and ran off to help the injured warrior, forgetting to lock the door. He didn't expect to stay at the healing wing all night, but the battle for the young warrior's life was hard. Great Manwe! The twins are about to wake…

Soft footsteps stopped behind the door and Elrond turned his tired, bloodshot eyes to see who it was. To his astonishment, it was Thranduil. The king's noble face could serve as inspiration for any painter. It was really hard to say whether Thranduil felt too good or too bad.

- Um… Your majesty? – Elrond called carefully, trying to determine what had befallen the usually so stoic monarch. – Something happened?

- Well, I've been captured a little, - said Thranduil and, deciding that it was too much, walked to the chair and dropped into it heavily, almost weeping with laughter.

Elrond felt scared. But turning his gaze back to the door, he froze in both surprise and apprehension.

- Father! – cried out the twins, rushing to embrace their newly found parent.

- We found you!

- We came to rescue you!

- From whom? – Elrond felt that he was slowly but steadily going insane. The king's histerical laughter intensified.

- From the monster, - explained the twins as if it was the most sensible reasoning ever.

- From the wrong one, - added Elladan.

- That feeds on obedient grown-up elves, - explained Elrohir.

Then, exchanging looks, the brothers extended the somewhat battered, a bit dirty and profusely watered with tears slippers to their father, continuing to report their adventures to him. The twins' father sighed, listening to an unbelievable tale and starting to worry for the king's health. Was it normal for a person to laugh so hard and long?

Sighing again, Elrond picked his restless children and went into the corridor. They need to bath, to cloth and to get their breakfast first.

- I'll see how YOU will manage, - he hissed to the still laughing monarch as he passed him.

Thranduil chuckled, wiping the tears away, but then got thoughtful and went to look for his wife, asking to cancel the next council session.

THE END

**NOTE:** I hope that the translation isn't too bad. I had hard time translating some of the words and phrases, trying not to loose their sense. For example, 'bogatyr' is a word for a Slavonic hero. You can use Wikipedia for details.


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